mainly aircraft of course - some very interesting early 50s/60s experimental stuff and German/Japanese captured types, some vehicles but also bombs and rockets - the RAFs collection of German rockets/missiles/guided bombs are on display here. And its free - yes, I know, amazing!
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RAF Museum, Cosford, Shropshire (near Telford/Wolverhampton)
- Thread starter Rrickoshae
- Start date
Superb museum . Been there many times . My father was stationed at Cosford early in WW2 & among other duties he was converting Rumanian pilots to Fairy Battles . Soon after they had flown out with the wretched things , Rumania joined the Axis . He was always rather miffed about that .
Slick
Well-Known Member
Vlad
It's an Me410. The gun would rotate 90 degrees up so they could shoot down B17s and Lancasters while flying underneath. Sounded good in theory, anyway.
On a side note. This is one of two surviving examples. The other being in NASM.
On a sider note, during my near month stay in the UK, we would tour 2 or 3 museums in a day. The trip to Cosford took the whole day, for obvious reasons. Equivalent to the USAF museum in Dayton. Better, in some respects. Except they crowd the planes too close and you can't get good pics of everything. Lighting was good tho.
It's an Me410. The gun would rotate 90 degrees up so they could shoot down B17s and Lancasters while flying underneath. Sounded good in theory, anyway.
On a side note. This is one of two surviving examples. The other being in NASM.
On a sider note, during my near month stay in the UK, we would tour 2 or 3 museums in a day. The trip to Cosford took the whole day, for obvious reasons. Equivalent to the USAF museum in Dayton. Better, in some respects. Except they crowd the planes too close and you can't get good pics of everything. Lighting was good tho.
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As Slick says, an Me 410, captured in Denmark and fortunate to have been selected for preservation by the Air Historical Branch in 1946. A large number (30 odd from memory) of German aircraft, including many rare and exotic examples, were stored in the corner of RAE Farnborough following evaluation. But in the mid 50s the Station Commander decided it was time to turn them into pots and only a small number escaped.
Another photo of its front end plus a few other bits & bobs.
Dave
Attachments
think they did us a favour Mike, not too many RAF aircrew would have mourned their loss (the aircraft I mean) and they (the guys who flew them away) probably saved the lives of who ever would have had to fly the things if they had remained in RAF hands!
I
I seem to recall Mike that you have a large photo of him in a Spitfire - I bet he liked that one!
ah!, yes TSR2 the best plane we never had. Come to that, nore did the Americans who wanted to buy it but the Labour Government in its infinite wisdom said 'no, we won't sell you a plane that is better than anything we will ever have' and then Harold Bloody Wilson and his cronies went off to the pub for sandwiches & beer. How is it that such dipsticks get to such positions of power? The Americans have just soooo much money and we had such a brilliant plane, its a no brainer unless you are a Labour Prime Minister.
yes it had the same engine Mike, but the Spitfire was designed by an Englishman to fit like a glove around 1 person whereas the poor old Battle was designed by a Belgian (with all due respects to Belgians who make the worlds best chocolate, some cracking beer and manage to keep a straight face in the funniest of situations) to fit like a pair of baggy pants around 3 people. The engine of my sports car does great - providing the wife isn't on board, but it would be useless powering a bull nose tractor unit.
that Bristol 188 is another lucky survivor - I think only 2 or 3 were built to study the effects of kinetic heating at high speed, having to withstand 300 degreesC for long periods. It was of all stainless steel construction, was the most expensive experimental aircraft to date and established actually very little of interest. Hence Concord was built from standard aircraft aluminium & not stainless steel. The airframes were taken to the Shoeburyness Proof & Experimental Establishment (gunnery) for use as targets but lucky the one at Cosford was retrieved before it was shot at. I think the remains of the other lingered on in a very battered state until the 1990s.
Dave. What made you include a photo of a York ? Of particular interest to me as it was the first 'plane I ever had a ride in . We were stationed in Germany from 1948-50 during the Berlin Airlift & the airfield at Wunsdorf was chocker with them . Went out on several crash investigations with father when they ended up in turnip fields after a problem . Wish I still had all the photos from that time .